Heaven on Earth
by My Fleeting Touch
Summary: The human race is over. The angels now rule the surface of the earth, fearing the demons below. An angel, Mikan Sakura, finds herself drawn to the ruins of a school in Japan where she meets the remnants of the human race she thought were extinct. NxM. T.
1. Chapter 1

_**Heaven on Earth**_

The sequel to _Broken Wings of an Angel _by Tragic Lullaby (Old account.)  
I do not own Gakuen Alice.  
I do own a few OCs though.

Chapter one:  
The first piece

* * *

_One hundred and fifty years ago, the damaged Earth destroyed the human race._

One hundred and fifty years ago, the God that watched over the world fled, unable to bear the fact that his greatest creation had managed to kill themselves off.

All that was left were the Angels, the Demons and the tiny remainder of the Human race that were soon to drive themselves to extinction. The humans drove off any help that was offered to them, believing that they could restart all on their own, but they disappeared one by one until none were left.

The age of the human race was over.

In their place, the Angels began to inhabit the earth – the heavenly beings that had been abandoned to their fate along with the humans thrived, and replenished the world so it is was once again, a paradise. Their only fear was that the demons, those who dwelled beneath, would come to start war that would destroy the earth forever.

Their other fear was that the human race would somehow return to claim what was once theirs.

However, one hundred and fifty years on and the Angel Empire is strong, ready for any attack – from demons or humans.

Their life-span was long, but unfortunately, the male population began to die out and only a few were left, resulting in the men not only have one wife but five or six. Turmoil spread throughout the Empire, what were they going to do once the men had become all but extinct? Every new birth was a girl, even the healers were baffled and fear swept the population.

What were they going to do?

_What are we going to do?_

_

* * *

_

Sun broke through the windows as I twisted in my soft, silky, white sheets.

I didn't want to wake up just yet, and I wouldn't have to if I were as lucky as my cousins Duke Takumi and Knight Ruka – but being Mikan Sakura, I was not. Trust me, being the Imperial Ace was not fun. My mother and father were the rulers of Angel Empire, I refused to accept the title 'princess' though because it sounded too soft and I wanted to take up the duties of a scout. It wasn't as if my half-sister, Sumire, couldn't handle the whole princess thing – in fact the whole system we'd established worked out well, I would trade her information about the world below and she'd give me information about the recent political decisions and when we'd have to appear in public and why.

I was clearly, the more rebellious 'princess'.

My cousins, Takumi and Ruka, didn't have it all that great though – since they were two of the few males left in the Empire, they would have women swarming all over them if it weren't for the fact that they had to have a guard everywhere they went. It was silly how people weren't after people for love anymore, but just so they could say they were married and produce kids. If they had a baby boy, they'd be worshipped as freaking royalty forever.

Not that I loved anybody though, so I wasn't interested in any guys except if they were friends and it drove my mother frantic. Sumire went along with the flow sometimes, but I don't think she was really that into it either, except she did trail around behind Ruka with big puppy dog eyes from time to time.

"Mikan!" my half-sister's high pitched squeal burst into the room as she threw herself onto my bed. "Look at my wings!" Sumire was usually extremely controlled and kind of bossy even, so it must have been really something to set her off like this.

I groaned and glanced up at my half-sister's usually pearly white wings, to see that today, they were a pale green shade. "Sumire! What've you done to yourself?"

She looked slightly hurt, "Come on, Mikan, it's the new fashion! You should get your wings coloured too, like red or something - they'd look awesome. Not that they aren't awesome already, I'm so jealous about the fact that you were born with black wings – you're so lucky!"

"Yeah, as if I wasn't a misfit enough as it is."

"Whatever," Sumire rolled her eyes, "Get up you lazy angel, dad wants you to patrol the outer regions today, it sounds much more exciting then hanging around in the slums, trading stuff. Mum is throwing a fit, she doesn't want you to touch the ground - you have to stay in the air." My mother wasn't Sumire's mother, but Sumire considered her as such – her actual mother disappeared soon after Sumire's birth but not after leaving Sumire on our doorstep. As she was father's child, we had to take her in.

I snorted, "Boring. What is there to be worried about? Demons hate daylight and humans are bloody extinct."

"Mikan, you drive mum insane every day because you always manage to put yourself in the most dangerous spots,"

"You know what, Sumire?" I said, staring at the ceiling, "I wish that I could meet a human."

Sumire's gasp was still audible from behind her hand. It was scandalous to _want_ to_ meet_ one of the _barbarians_ that used to rule this world, I would probably be _raped_and_ murdered _if I ever did meet one – or that's what Sumire said and the general message that the other angels seemed to broadcast, even Ruka was a bit dubious when it came to humans.

"Mikan! If you ever said such a thing around mum, she'd lock you in your bedroom and you'd never be able to leave until you're, like, eight hundred and twenty!" Sumire exclaimed. She glared at me, "You'd better not touch the ground at all today, Mikan, especially in such a dangerous area."

"Yeah, yeah," I yawned, "Got the message. Now can you leave me alone while I get dressed, please?"

Sumire shot me a scornful look, shrugged, and stalked out of the room – clearly feeling that I was not to be forgiven so easily for saying such a thing. I groaned and rolled over to my closet to fetch my scouting outfit – a simple black and red piece of work. Knowing my mother, she'd probably insist that Tsubasa Andou – the family bodyguard, was to go with me. Tsubasa was great company and one of my best friends but I hated that my mother had to interfere with my missions; it wasn't like I was completely defenceless.

I knew nothing about humans except for the fact that they were apparently vicious barbarians and that I was to stay away from one at all costs. Whatever. They were extinct so I would never know the truth. The angels didn't burn the old human scriptures that remained after the day the human race basically ended – but they did lock them away under heavy security, any knowledge of the human race was slowly being drained out of us.

I laced up my boots, ready to face the hysterical whirlwind that was my mother. I melted through the bubble like surface that was my door and my mother's voice hit me almost immediately. "I can't _believe_ that your _father_ would insist on making you go on a scouting mission to _that place!_" She shoved a plate towards me, her large brown eyes fixed on me. "God knows how worried I get whenever you go down to the under city. I swear that man is trying to drive me to an early grave."

"Chill out mum," I groaned, "It's just a harmless scouting mission. What am I going to run into? A bird? A tree?"

She pursed her lips. "I want you to take Tsubasa with you."

"Mum!"

"No can do I'm afraid, sorry Yuka," my father had managed to creep up behind my mum and put his arms around her. "I'm taking Tsubasa with me today to my meeting. Mikan will have to go without." He winked at me, "_Sorry _Mikan for stealing him away for today."

"Mikan, I don't want you to touch the ground out there at all, do you understand me?" my mother said sternly. "You will stay in flight the entire time."

I sighed, "Yes mum."

"Promise?"

I crossed my fingers behind my back, "Promise." Not.

She breathed out, looking a little less stressed, "Alright, well quickly finish your breakfast. Make sure you don't stay out there too long and _next time_ you'll be taking Tsubasa with you!" With a final parting glare at my father and I, she left the room.

My father turned to me, all his jovial joking gone, "Okay, time to be serious, Mikan, I'm not lying when I say this is a dangerous mission. Our scientists have reported seeing strange movements in that forest, and I knew that you'd be the one up for the job – even though you are my daughter." He held up a hologram of a map if the country we were in, once called Japan, this country was renamed Alicea by the angels. "The area that was the worst was in the forest in the ruins of a place once known as Gakuen Alice – supposedly it was a academy for humans with special abilities."

_Gakuen Alice_. Why did that sound so familiar? Why was my mind beginning to spin? Why were black shapes beginning to creep into the edge of my vision?

"Mikan?" With my father's voice, the sudden strangeness disappeared and the shapes disappeared as quickly as they had come. "Are you feeling alright? I could always get another to do this mission. Like Misaki?"

"No," I said, "I'm fine, just a bit tired still."

He gave me a suspicious look but shrugged, "Take this hologram with you, it'll help you navigate around the ruins. You should go while you still have daylight, don't wander around there in the dark, Mikan. The demons could come out of the ground and snatch you away."

It wasn't a joke, every day, another angel disappeared from the under city – they were trying their best to cover it up. Didn't want to have everyone in a panic.

"I'll be alright, father," I pocketed the hologram, adjusting my visors, "I'm the fastest angel that ever was, nobody can catch me."

_Nobody can catch me._

_

* * *

_

Flying is a feeling that you could never get used to, a feeling you'd never want to get used to.

Imagine standing at the top of a mountain, in a gap which the wind rushes through, it's unrelentless and you feel like you're about to be blown off the mountain at any second and it's cold but for that moment, when you're at the very edge and you lean forward and the wind holds you up and you feel like you could take off.

Flying is like that, yet only better.

I soared through the clouds, enjoying every bit of my freedom. I never got to fly on my own, my mother always made sure that someone was tagging along to make sure I didn't get hurt. As if this mission would be that dangerous.

Suddenly, I was over the ruins and it was time for my favourite part, the plunge. Wind gushed up around me as a zoomed downwards and landed gently on a patch of daisies. Man, this place was _huge_. Were all human school's this big? It was also hauntingly _beautiful_. I had heard that humans were disgusting creatures and their buildings were awful and dark. The under city of the Angel Empire were so much darker – full of fear.

This place was just so _empty_. It felt wrong.

Peaceful, yes, but wrong.

"I wonder what father meant by 'special abilities'," I murmured out loud as I carefully walked down a concrete path that was littered with ash and small craters – I noticed that the bricks were out of order, some had flown a few metres away from their original spots. Another reminder of the chaos that the day the human race was destroyed had wrought upon the world – even on this path.

A pink petal fluttered in front of my face, bringing my attention to a tree sitting not too far away, full in bloom with a mass of pink flowers. The name of the tree escaped me, we had no reason to learn the name of trees in the Angel Empire – we weren't elves. Yet, I felt as if I knew the name from a distant memory and it was lingering somewhere just beyond my reach. Glancing around cautiously, I wandered over to it, and reached out to put my hand on the trunk but I stumbled on a large, hard object instead.

"What the?" I coughed, spitting grass out of my mouth. I rolled away from the object, in full defensive mode, only to realise that it was a stone.

A gravestone.

All the air rushed out of me as I read the words – my eyes widening and my eyes were beginning to well. _What on earth, Mikan?_ My body was reacting completely on it's own, as if it knew the name that my mind refused to recognise. It was stupid of course, how could I know a human, who probably lived over a hundred and fifty years ago, who was dead?

_In loving memory of Natsume Hyuuga._

_May the turmoil of his life cease and his soul rest in peace…_

It took so much effort to tear my eyes away from the tombstone only to realise, as if my eyes had only just been opened, that the entire area was littered with graves. As if a war had taken place here and there had been a mass burial – but didn't only young humans go to school?

I traced my hand down the tombstone and a layer of dirt and dust fell off, revealing the last of the message. I frowned, "May the turmoil of his life case and his soul rest in peace and may he…" my eyes widened.

The cold barrel of a gun pressed again my temple. My breathing escalated as the cold, harsh voice of a male whispered into my ear and completed my sentence for me, "And may he fly with Mikan Sakura in heaven forever."

I felt my heart falter and stop.

* * *

Chapter one finite

Author's Note:

So on my old profile, Tragic Lullaby, I wrote _Broken Wings of an Angel_ and I had promised a sequel. I did write a sequel but deleted it because I disliked it quite a lot and I didn't know where to go with it. So, after a lot of thought and sudden spontaneous writing I've come up with the sequel – _Heaven on Earth_. It's quite different from what I had originally planned and definitely sadder than the first write up I tried.

That being said, enjoy. :)

~ MFT


	2. Chapter 2

_**Heaven on Earth**_

The sequel to _Broken Wings of an Angel _by Tragic Lullaby (Old account.)  
I do not own Gakuen Alice.  
I do own a few OCs though.

Chapter two  
The Human's Challenge

* * *

He'd watched the academy go up in flame as he died.

Gakuen Alice was burning, burning, _burning_ like the alice inside him burnt, taking the rest of his life and turning it to ashes as he bled to death.

There was a ringing in his ears – he couldn't hear anything else but the ringing. His friends… their mouths were moving but no sound was coming out. It was like the academy was taking their voices down with it – burning them into oblivion.

Why was it so dark?

Waiting. He'd been waiting for someone - he was still waiting for someone. Waiting for someone to come home to him like she'd promised. She said she'd come back. One year, two years, three years.

She hadn't come back.

Something was tickling his hand. It was hard to feel it over the pain. It took so much effort to glance down – like the weight of the world was on his trembling shoulders. It was a feather, a black feather. It was too large to be the feather of a bird.

_Find me, please, find me. _

Hands gripped his shoulders, forcing him to look up into the face of his best friend. His voice had been stolen too, but his mouth was moving in the most desperate way. _"Natsume! Hang on Natsume!"_

Why was he calling his name?

What was there to hang on to? There was nothing to grip except the feather in his hand. Something wet was running down his cheek and he lifted his hand and it came away red. Blood red. It was scorching. There was a light brush against his cheek, as if someone was trying to wipe the red away from his face – he caught it in his hand.

It was a pink petal of the cherry blossom tree he loved so much.

Why was it so hard to breathe?

He had to keep waiting – he had to keep waiting.

There was so much blood. Bodies of students – his classmates were sprawled across the grass, colouring it dark with their life force. Burnt beyond recognition.

It was all his fault.

His alice was out of control – consuming his life and taking the life of those around him, his own friends. Burning down the place he might have called home.

His alice hungered for life.

_Please find me._

It was the end of the world.

"Ruka," the name tore at his throat as he looked his tormented best friend in the eye, "I'm sorry."

"Natsume!" His name was drowned out by the ringing in his ears - but he knew it well enough. "You can't die, Natsume!"

"I need to find her," his grip tightened on the feather and cherry blossom in his hand, as if clutching to them would save him. Everything was fading, slipping away from him – like she had. His gaze turned to the sky, red orange from the fire and death, everything was fading to black and the heat inside him was unbearable. "Where are you?" He breathed out, the last fragment of light in his vision disappearing "Mikan?"

"_Natsume!"_

Feather. Sakura. Fire. Dark. Ringing. Burning. End._ Please. _. _Find me_. A burning cold. _Please find me._

"_Natsume!"_

_Find me._

_Please._

_Find me._

_Mikan._

_

* * *

_

No one was supposed to be here.

It was possible that my mother could've sent an angel after me, but no angel would hold the barrel of a gun against my head. A demon? No, they only came out at night and it was as bright as a lightbulb out here. An assassin? Possibly.

A human? Impossible.

"What is an _angel_," the word was spat out like it was disease, "be doing in a place like this? Mourning the deaths of those who died one hundred and fifty years ago? I find that very unlikely. Now," the gun was pressed deeper against my temple, "Would you like to beg for mercy before I shoot you or have you decided on some sort of meaningful phrase as your last words."

"What are you?" I whispered.

He laughed hollowly, "Don't play it dumb, angel – you know what I am. The exact same being as those you carted off to do experiments on in your laboratories."

"What?"

He ignored me, "Can you believe that, once upon a time, humans wished to be an angel once they died? That is was believed that everyone had an angel guarding over them? Now we have to tell people to beware at every moment because either a demon will snatch them underground or an angel will if they stray topside!"

"You're a human?" I breathed, "That's impossible."

He snorted, "What kind of angel are you? One of the civilians that they try to keep all the secrets from?"

"Believe it or not," I replied bitingly, "A lot of things are top secret in Angel Empire, for fear that the demons could use such knowledge against us."

In a swift movement I grabbed his gun hand and vaulted over the human, pulling his arm behind him and quickly pulled the gun from it and kicked it away. I released him and he turned to me, looking at me as if I was, quite possibly, the stupidest thing he'd ever seen.

It was true – he was a human, like an angel but without the wings and the almost pearly glow. A young, male human. "What?" I stammered, "But you're all supposed to be dead. _Extinct._ Burned to the ground like those students." I pointed towards the gravestone. I looked at him more closely - he had shaggy black hair, and beautiful red eyes and a well-developed body – agile and well-built. Even by angel standards… he was effing gorgeous. "Or… you could be a human-demon hybrid, with eyes like those," I immediately took a defensive stance, wishing I had kept the gun.

"That's disgusting," he replied, coldly. "Why the hell did you release me? You do realise that I can still kill you, and I probably will."

"I took care of your gun," I pointed out, "And I can fly."

He rolled his eyes and flames sprung up around the two of us, "I don't intend you to get away to warn your little angel friends. Humans can't live underground forever and we've got an army slowly building to take back what is ours. I happen to be one of the specialised soldiers, trained to kill angels." His eyes rested on mine, "Angels like you."

I gulped – this was bad. Screw what I had said about wanting to meet a human – I never wanted to meet another one. "So, I suppose," I started carefully, "If the human raced hadn't almost been completely wiped out – you would've gone to this school."

He glared, "What do you know about Gakuen Alice?"

"Only that it was a school to train humans with special abilities," I had to delay him as long as possible. Maybe a scout team would come searching for me. Then he'd be in trouble.

"Alices," he muttered. "Gakuen Alice burnt the day that the human race was destroyed, a guy… his alice went out of control, killing him and the rest of the school." He shot a glance towards the gravestone I was at earlier. "But enough of stories, time for you to die, angel."

"Uhh," I choked back fear. This guy was scary. "What's your name?"

"Does it matter?" he asked coolly.

"Look," I was grasping at straws now, "Let's just come to an agreement. I promise I won't tell anybody about the existence of humans in this area because, quite frankly, I find humans fascinating." I ignored his comment about the angel scientists also finding humans fascinating. "In exchange, you don't kill me."

He raised an eyebrow. "How do I know you aren't lying?"

I sighed, "I don't know? Give me a test or something that doesn't involve me killing anyone… or being killed."

For a few moments he just stared at me contemplatively, and I got more and more nervous with each passing second. Finally he spoke, "There may be something you can do."

Hope lit like a fire within me, "What?"

"Find out what your angel scientist bastards have done with my sister."

* * *

So many questions were racing through my mind.

How had the humans survived? Why had my parents never informed me of the secret laboratory used to keep humans hostage for experiments? Why was I so drawn to that ruin of a school?

Why was my name on that person's gravestone? I wasn't even alive one hundred and fifty years ago. I felt my chest clench in what I thought was pity for that guy's fate – to have your own alice kill you and all your friends and burn down your home.

What if… no… nothing would've change if he hadn't died back then, he'd be dead by now anyway – they all would.

A hand grabbed my arm mid-flight and a familiar voice hissed my ear, "What the hell did you think you were doing?" I turned and one of my best friends, Emi, was hovering there with an angry expression on her face. "You agreed not to tell the council about the _humans_!" Her voice rose into a shriek. "Didn't you hear him, Mikan? He said _army!_ An army of humans!"

I looked around in panic for any other angel scouts, and shoved my hand over Emi's mouth, "Did my mother send you?"

Emi glared, prizing my hand off her mouth, "Actually, Sumire did – she was very worried. Your mum might've sent somebody else though. Just be glad I'm such a good friend of your's. Sumire said you said something freaky about wanting to meet a human this morning. Guess your wish just came true. Was it what you expected?"

I hesitated, "No. I had thought I would meet a stranded few that were desperately in need of my help – like they were starving or something."

"Well he needs your help at least," her glare increased ten-fold, "To get his sister back from the labs and to have you keep the secret that a human army was headed for Angel Empire."

I flinched, "Look, Emi, maybe the angels and humans can come to an agreement and we can all live in harmony – except for the demons."

She snorted, "Yeah right. Humans and angels can't live together – it's against their nature. Humans and demons of a chance of co-existing."

"How would you know?"

"Because some say," she leaned in close to whisper, "that demons evolved from humans – that they are the humans that transformed into twisted, mad, mutants the day the human race ended."

"You listen to too many rumours Emi," I shook my head.

"Yeah, and you take orders from a human," she snapped back. "You're a freaking princess for God's sake! You don't need to take orders from a soldier… a _human_ soldier."

"I don't think taking humans away for experiments is right," I said, uncomfortably.

"Think about it would you? The scientists are trying to find out how the humans survived against all odds. Maybe they're looking for something important, for us! Come on, Mikan, isn't the future and well being of your own people more important than the silly lives of the humans?" Emi grabbed my arm, "They're better off in the lab than they are out there, preparing for a war against us."

"I have to do this, Emi. It's the only way to get him to trust me."

"You don't need his trust, Mikan, but have it your way. I'm not going to like this," she sighed, flying away.

* * *

My mother's arms engulfed me as soon as I stepped into the palace living room.

"I'm not going to let you out without an escort again," she sobbed into my hair. "I was terrified the entire day and then when you returned past curfew I didn't know what I was going to do without you!"

"Mum, you're overreacting!" I exclaimed as I tried to squirm out of her arms. "I'm completely fine!"

"Mikan," my father gripped my shoulder, "Was there any sign of movement in the ruins?"

"No," I lied, "Not even demons. It's just an empty ruin father, so I looked around a bit. From the scorch marks on the walls, it looked as if the place had been burnt down. There were hundreds of graves."

My father's hand lingered for a while before he nodded and went to his studio, I quickly slipped the piece of paper into my pocket form my hand so I could get my mother off me, "Alright mum, I'm going to go sleep. It's been a long day."

"Alright dear, you don't have to get up early tomorrow – no scouting, at all. Just sleep away and recuperate, I'll make sure Sumire doesn't disturb you," she ushered me towards my bedroom. "Goodnight Mikan, sweetie."

"Night mum," I bit my lip as I closed my door behind me. Getting back to the human tomorrow would be harder than I thought it'd be.

"I can't believe what you did today," came a voice from the shadowy corner next to the door. I jumped only to see it was Sumire.

"Oh, Sumire, it's only you – you scared me for a minute there," I breathed out. "I must be too tired."

"Or amazingly nervous because if you get caught, you are in big trouble," my sister's green eyes stared at me. "It took me so much effort to actually get Emi to tell me what you'd done today. Mikan! You should tell the council right away that a human army could be coming towards Angel Empire at any minute!"

"No Sumire," I replied tiredly, "I will gain this human's trust and somehow manage some sort of agreement between the angels and humans. I will have this resort to war."

"Don't you _listen_ Mikan? Humans are vicious and can't stand being inferior to anything, they have to be at the top – they'll do whatever they can to get there too. We can't co-exist peacefully," Sumire growled. "Maybe war is the only way to deal with them. We have to destroy them completely or be destroyed."

"Sumire, you hate violence," I said, "I was hoping that you and Emi would be the ones I could count on."

"You can count on us, Mikan. Just not at the cost of the entire angel race. Don't even think about going back to that human, Mikan," Sumire said as she opened the door, "I will be watching you."

Exhausted, I slumped onto my bed, taking the important piece of paper from my pocket. It was the layout of the laboratories and it showed me exactly where the human's sister and the other humans would be kept. I had another reason for doing this – true, I felt it was morally wrong, but more than that, I felt like I owed this human the world.

I don't know why.

Sneaking out tomorrow would be harder than I thought.

* * *

Chapter two finite.

Author's note

Alright, chapter two down and away. I've got so many ideas for this story, I just have to somehow fit them all onto the one story line. So, we've met this human – one guess as to who he is. I know it's going to be a bit confusing, but I like have complex plots, so if I write it correctly, hopefully you'll all be able to keep up with my mind which is going over 9000 km/h. :P

Anyway, please read and review because reviews keep me going. I read them and I'm like, _I must keep writing_, especially if they are long reviews and there are lots of them ;). Greedy, I know, but it shows that people read and the more reviews there are, the more people come along and read it and so on.

It's a big circle.

xx. MFT


	3. Chapter 3

_**Heaven on Earth**_

The sequel to _Broken Wings of an Angel_ by Tragic Lullaby (Old account.)  
I do not own Gakuen Alice.  
I do own a few OCs though.

Chapter three:  
Into the night

* * *

_You know nothing of hell._

He knew hell, he saw hell, and he breathed hell. If hell became a person, it would take the form of him, take the form of the _thing_ he had become.

Hell was his second name.

He'd watched the world die before his eyes, he'd watched as the flames engulfed everything around, he'd watched life wither and die in front of him. When the darkness came, it consumed him. He had screamed and howled as all colour drained from his world, leaving nothing but the black, grey and white of a world driven mad by pain and fear. He clawed at his eyes, desperate for this vision to go away, caking his fingernails with blood.

It was his blood.

At the back of his mind, there was laughter, as dark and hollow as the pits of hell itself. He clutched at his throat as black hatred drowned his already smoke-filled wind pipe. He tried to scream, to beg for mercy but no sound would come out except for the choking of a young man who was on the verge of death.

_I'm begging you._

The ice-cold laughter started again. "Oh no, you won't be dying today," the terrible voice said. "I won't let one of the first of my creations die just yet."

_Who are you?_

"I'm known by many names. Take a guess."

_The Devil?_

The harsh laughter was all that answered. He felt like he was going to explode from the pain building up inside of him, coursing through every muscle in his body. Like fire and ice. He glanced down at his arms; his skin was turning an awful black and red colour, like the colour of blood. His veins were bulging and glowing bright blue. They felt like ice. His eyes widened as a terrible fear forced itself down his throat, causing him to throw up.

_W- What are you doing to me?_

"Your so-called 'God' as fled and, assuming that all human kind will wipe itself out, the angels will come to earth to claim it for themselves. Yes, I know you know they exist and I _know_ you've come in contact with one of them before. A certain fallen angel," there was contempt in the voice. "I've waited too long for this earth and I'm not about to hand it over to a few little flying bugs. _You are going to help me_ and if you survive, you and you're kindred will rule it with me."

_Kindred?_

"Oh yes, welcome to my army, little demon."

_No! Please! __**Kill me! I'm begging you! Kill me!**_

The voice just laughed again, "You are an interesting one. With your alice power, you will be of great used to me. _Commander_ of my army."

The voice continued to laugh in ice-cold cruelty as Kai Makita went insane at the destruction of the world.

_That day, people took seconds to die, minutes, hours, maybe even a day or two._

_I've been dying for a hundred and fifty years and counting._

_**You know nothing of hell.**_

_**

* * *

**_

It was dangerous sneaking out at night.

Although most angels slept during the night, there were the demons to deal with. I'd never seen a demon but I'd heard of what they can do. Sometimes I wonder how many stories are true though. There were many accounts of demons dragging angels underground in the lower city. What they did, nobody knows. A lot of angels suspect that they torture the angel until it dies or becomes one of them.

Nobody knows where the demons come from. My father told me that they'd been there all along, from the very beginning of the earth, just like we'd been but they'd been kept in a prison by Earth's God and it was because the God fled that they'd been able to escape once human kind had destroyed itself. It was a belief that most angels shared and it was the one written the Book of Lore.

However, I knew a few who thought differently. One such one was one of the Elder Angels, Chira. She believed that the demons were the fallen angels that had been banished to earth before the destruction humankind and unable to repent their sins and unable to die, they'd fled underground and had gone mad in the dark. There were so many demons though, too many for them to all be fallen angels.

I'd heard stories of the demons, most angels don't even know what a demon looks like because they say that if you see one, it's all over for you, you get dragged under. There have been some lucky angels though, if you knew where to find them, and those few had been terrified to the core. I remember one gripping my shoulder so tightly that I had feared my bones would snap, staring at me so intently, muttering and shaking. "Why can't you see them? Why can't you seem them? Dark staring pits where eyes used to be with small bright white lights staring at you. I see them everywhere, in the dark, in my dreams, whenever I shut my eyes. The eyes of the insane, they stare into my head."

I crept quietly along the balcony. Surely the demons wouldn't be able to attack me if I was flying. I wondered about the boy though, would he be alright? Why was I even worried over the safety of a human?

_You're scared the demons might hurt his pretty face,_ said a small voice at the back of my head. I snorted softly, trying not to make too much noise. I climbed onto the balcony railing, ready to take off when a voice shrieked at me from the door. It was Sumire. "Mikan! Get down from there now! _I'll tell mum and dad!_"

I gave her a look, "I'm sorry Sumire. I have to do this." I took off.

"_You're helping the enemy, Mikan!_" She screamed after me.

Maybe I was, but I couldn't help it. I _had to help him_. Maybe he'd caught me, a bird, in his cage but I felt freer than I'd ever been. The angel down in the lower city told me that she saw demon eyes in her head whenever she shut her own.

Whenever I shut my eyes I saw his red orbs staring back at me.

* * *

When I arrived at Gakuen Alice the boy was sitting there in a ring of fire, looking murderous.

I wondered what I'd done wrong before I touched down. There seemed to be no demons around. He frowned at me in surprise, "What the hell are you doing back here?"

I blinked stupidly, "Wasn't I supposed to come back with information?"

He looked as if he would smash his palm to face at any moment and he stood in anger and shouted at me, "Are you _stupid?_ I basically let you _fly free_! I didn't _expect _you to come back _you absolute moron_."

"Then why are you out here?" I retorted. "Enjoying the scenery?"

"I'm on guard duty, my alice is a useful defence so they let me guard."

"How is it useful?"

"For driving off demons. Unlike you and me though, well…only you really, it's not the heat that hurts them, no, as they come from hotter places. It's the light. Demons can't stand it, that's why they only come out at night. Even then they can't bear to look at the moon, so if anytime a demon spots you, angel, just fly so you're in front of the moon."

"How do you know all this?" I asked in awe.

He smirked, "It's basic survival knowledge for humans. Not all of us live in big towers. If we hadn't found that out we'd be dead. We have to battle with the demons every night." He looked weary, I wondered if he had ever had a decent night's sleep in his life.

"So that means you've seen a demon, haven't you?" I asked eagerly.

He looked at me like I'd grown another ear, "You mean you haven't?" I shook my head slowly. "_Angels_," he muttered. "Alright, well whatever I say doesn't really quite explain the horror of the demons. They're kind of like humans except their skin is a mottled dark red, with holes in it and it looks kind of melted, they have pointed ears and horns growing from their skull, the size depends on what rank they have. They have claws spouting from their fingers and they have some weird bits of skin between their lips so whenever they snarl they have some skin over their pointed teeth. They have tattoos, some of them, and claw marks over their eyes, also some tear black tear marks from their eyes, dried blood I suspect. Their eyes though," he looked at me, "Are the pits of hell themselves. Black holes with a small, really bright pupil."

I shuddered, "Horrible."

He laughed bitterly, "Trust me, until you've seen one, you have no idea."

"Do you know where they come from?"

His face closed off at the question, "No."

"You know don't you?"

"I- no, I don't know," he snapped. "Anyway, you said you had information?"

"I have to blue-prints of the labs," I gave them to him, he raised his eyebrow. "I've marked the place where they'd be holding their experiments."

"And?" he looked at me.

"Well," I squirmed uncomfortably, "I don't want to go alone."

There was a moment of silence before he snickered, "You are _scared_ of going into a lab of your own people?"

"Going into the lab in strictly forbidden, we'd be breaking and entering," I raised my chin high.

"You mean you'd be breaking and entering. There's no 'we' about this, angel." He pointed out.

I gave him my best shot at puppy-dog eyes, "_Please?_ Please, please, please? It's for your sister."

He sighed, "Fine. Hang on." He disappeared, leaving me all alone in the ruins. I shivered, suddenly very cold. It was too silent, I wanted to run after him but I suspected that if I ran into a group of humans, they wouldn't be all the nice to their sudden guest. A twig snapped behind me and I spun around, could there really be demons here? Bush rustled to my right and I glanced over starting to freak out as they bush didn't stop rustling. Something big was moving through it, towards me. Whatever it was, it emitted a fierce growl. I started to back away from the bush. Two bright lights shone from it, right at me. Oh god, I didn't want to be snatched away by a demon. I opened my mouth and let out a scream, stumbling backwards as the growling increased. Where the hell was fire boy when you needed him?

As if he'd heard my thought, the bush suddenly caught fire and he pulled me back as a dark shape shot out of it, howling. "Just a wolf," he muttered. "Your bloody screaming made me think it was a demon."

"But its eyes," I stammered, "They were glowing."

"It was just a reflection from the moon," he pointed towards the sky behind me. "Anyway, they like to snatch in groups. Scarier for the person that way."

"Oh," I mumbled weakly, noticing another human standing not too far from us. I leapt out of the boy's grip.

"This is Hota-, sorry, another alice like me. She has the alice of inventing things though," the fire boy quickly corrected himself. "So she invented those light bombs and other stuff to ward off demons."

"There's no need to be so wary, angel," the girl said, "I saw you speaking to him the other day through my surveillance cameras and questioned him. Although I do not like this, his judgement of people is usually correct." I glanced at the boy to see a smirk cross his face and rolled me eyes. He thought he was amazingly great as well.

"Do you have a name?" I asked him, "Or I'm going to have to call your Mr. Fire Man all the time."

The humans glanced at each other, obviously trying to decide whether to tell me, an angel, or not. After a while, the boy shrugged, "Hyuuga. This girl is Imai."

"Not your first names obviously," I noted but they refused to tell me anymore, their eyes were guarded and wary. I sighed, motioning back to the gravestone that I'd come across before, "Are you related to him then?"

"Maybe."

It was like getting blood out of a stone. "Whatever then," I snapped, "Are we going to go or what?"

"Wait just a minute, angel," Imai's voice was dangerous. "We gave you our names and we're going to need your own or you won't be going anyway." I gulped, she was right, these two could capture me and hold me hostage, or even kill me within a moment's notice.

"Sakura," I said stubbornly. There was a flicker of a reaction across Hyuuga's voice as the name but I was too slow to catch what it was. The two looked at each other, eyebrows disappearing into their hair.

"Not your first name, I take it?" Imai asked.

"No," I said, still stubborn. "You refused to give me your names so I'll repaying the kindness. Now, are you going to go and save his sister or not?"

"Right come on then, angel. Do you think you're strong enough to carry the both of us, some of us don't have wings you know?" Hyuuga pointed to the wings on my back.

I pondered, "I think so." I pushed off of the ground to hover slightly above him, he gave me a startled look as I put my hands under his arms and lifted him off the ground. He wasn't kidding, this was going to be hard work, but I was determined that I could do it.

We lifted off the ground with Imai's purple eyes following us as we went up, up and up into the dark night. I could tell Hyuuga wasn't exactly comfortable with being the one carried but he knew there was no other way, unless he was willing to fight his way through the lower city of the Angel Empire all the way up. No human could do that.

"Stop shifting around," I grumbled, making sure my hold on him was firm. "Otherwise I will drop you."

"Not every human flies everyday you know," he retorted. I glanced down at him, his eyes were shining like a kids even though he was trying to hide it. Imagine, living your whole life without ever flying. How did these humans cope?

* * *

I set him down on a ledge outside a deserted walkthrough.

He was sneering around at his surroundings, "White. How did I guess it'd all be white?" I rolled my eyes. _Humans. _I grabbed his sleeve, dragging him along.

"We aren't here to admire the scenery," I said. "We find your sister and what they're doing to the humans and then we get out of there. I hate labs and hospitals. Disgusting."

His eyes bore through me, "I never actually thought you'd betray your own kind for a human."

I shrugged, "I'm just curious. I hate being kept in the dark." It wasn't completely a lie, I was curious, but it wasn't the only reason why I was doing this.

"Ignorance is bliss," Hyuuga muttered under his breath. I ignored him and went to start working on an emergency door into the science lab. It was so well hidden, no wonder I'd never heard of the lab before.

"Got it!" I hissed under my breath, dragging Hyuuga in behind me. The hallway we were in was dimly lit and obviously not very important, unless you lived your life as a cleaner.

"Where'd an angel learn to pick locks?" Hyuuga inquired behind me.

"You learn a heap of things in the lower city," I replied vaguely. I unrumpled the blueprints and peered at it for a moment. "This way I think."

The lab was huge, we must've been walking for about fifteen minutes until we reached a door that said; 'public access restricted'. That's how we knew we'd come to the right place. I pushed on the door, "Damn! It's locked somehow."

"You need a card," Hyuuga gestured to a swiping machine next to the door. I swore. I hadn't learnt that yet. "What do we do now?"

I fidgeted in discomfort. Here we were – so close to what we wanted and a card-swiping machine had beaten us. I had a human within one of the most secret compounds in Angel Empire. If anybody found him they'd probably kill him on the spot and I'd be grounded for life. Father would never trust me again and then mother would go on and on about how I was almost killed by a 'bad human' and Sumire…

No, I had no time to think about that.

"Uhh," I paused, uncertain, Hyuuga's red eyes never took themselves off me.

Then he frowned, "Can you hear that?"

I listened, and in the distant there were footsteps clacking down the hall. Coming for us. I panicked, "Oh no, what if they find us? What do we do?" Hyuuga grabbed my arm and I took a frightened glance at the direction in which the sound was coming from as if someone would appear right behind us.

* * *

Chapter three finite.

Author's Note:

Sorry it took so long to write and it's a pretty boring chapter even. Not sure about you, but I'd fall asleep quite fast reading it. But as I now, boring chapters also need to exist for the exciting ones to be well… exciting.

Hope everyone's 2011 is pretty good so far.

MFT~


End file.
